from Act IV of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Andrea Chénier, a poet

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: spinto

Setting: In the courtyard of the Prison of St. Lazare

Synopsis: Waiting for dawn and the Trumbil, Chénier has been writing a poem. He recites it to Roucher at his urging.

from Act II of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Andrea Chénier, a poet

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: spinto

Setting: The café Hottot in Paris during the first phase of the French Revolution.

Synopsis: Roucher has spent the day gathering a passport for Chénier to leave the country. When he presents it, Chénier comments on his belief in fate and tells of a woman he believes to be his lover who has been sending him letters.

from Act III of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Andrea Chénier, a poet

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: spinto

Setting: The Revolutionary Tribunal

Synopsis: The charges are being brought against Chénier when suddenly he rises and says, "Yes I was a soldier who proudly confronted death." He tells them to kill him, but leave his honor in place.

from Act I of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Andrea Chénier, a poet

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: spinto

Setting: The Ballroom in the Coigny's château

Synopsis: The Countess has asked Chénier to recite a poem but he refuses untill Maddalena asks him. He contrasts the beauty of nature with the evilness and misery created by man. He denounces those in authority as self-serving.

from Act I of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Charles Gérard, a servant, later a revolutionary leader

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: dramatic baritone

Setting: The Ballroom in the Coigny's château.

Synopsis: Gérard, along with his fellow servants, have been setting up for a party. Observing his father, an older crippled man struggling with cumbersome furniture, Gérard decries the class system that keeps them in virtual slavery. He denounces the guilded house and hypocratic aristocrats that condemn him to the life he is living.

from Act III of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Charles Gérard, a servant, later a revolutionary leader

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: dramatic baritone

Setting: The Revolutionary Tribunal.

Synopsis: Chénier has been arrested and Gérard asks Incredibile if Maddalena has surfaced. Incredibile responds no, but with Chénier in prison it will not be long now. Gérard prepares to write the indictment against Chénier as an "enemy of his country." He begins, but stops as he realizes his discontent with the Revolution and all that it is.

from Act III of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Maddalena di Coigny, the daughter of the Contessa di Coigny

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric soprano

Setting: The Revolutionary Tribunal.

Synopsis: Maddalena tells Gérard about the death of her mother in the flames of her home that was burned by a mob. She tells of Bersi selling herself on the streets to provide for her. During her misery, love came to her and gave her the kiss of death. She finishes by telling Gérard to take her body for Chénier's life.

from Act III of the Italian opera Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano

Libretto: Luigi Illica

Role: Madelon, an old woman who is blind

Voice Part: mezzo-soprano

Setting: The Revolutionary Tribunal

Synopsis: Madelon, an older blind woman, has come to give the last possession she has to the cause of the revolution. Her grandson, whose father died in the taking of the Bastillé, can fight and die! She bids Gérard to take him for the cause.